Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

collectively, UNL fans are probably the happiest 4-7 fans this year.

OSU had an unremarkable 12-0 season a couple years back.  Auburn's 11-0 in 1993 didn't yield immortality, but they were on probation.



Florida fans are happy.  9-3 was the general best-case scenario for year one of Mullen.  The loss to UK made everyone nervous, but the win over LSU made up for it.  The loss to Mizzou was odd.  But destroying FSU at their place was a great ending to the regular season.


It probably gave the Gator Nation an uptick to have the 'other' 2 top coaching hires start out like 0-13 combined.  
My only fear now is that we get into a bowl above our heads and get spanked.  We'll see.

Make it special and sweep the Dirt Burglars

Amen, brutha!

The worst bowl opponent would be UCF even with the injury to the QB.

Of Florida's big 3, UF is the only one that hasn't lost to UCF or USF.
If the Gators do play UCF in a bowl, the messed up thing is that the outcome would entirely depend on whether the Gators' defense decided to show up or not.  I know that sounds dismissive or homerish, but it's true.  With Milton out, it's especially true.  If the NFLers to be have checked out, Florida will play like they did vs Mizzou, and lose.  
If the defense plays motivated, Florida would win and get minimal credit, again, especially with Milton out.

UCF is a team you don't want to play in a bowl game.  No credit for winning, and you'd feel an Auburn burn if you lose.

Looking at the Purdue schedule before the season, many Boiler fans predicted a 6-6 or 5-7 campaign.  While finishing 6-6 under the circumstances wasn't great, it wasn't all that bad either.

Purdue returned to the status of Spoilermakers.  In grand fashion.

Every team they beat at home was ranked at the time: Boston College, Ohio State, and Iowa.

2 of the teams they beat on the road were homecoming games: @Illinois and @Nebraska.  

And of course the other road win was @Indiana, which spoiled their bowl dreams.

Boiler Up!

They may have ended up at the destination we though they'd reach, but they certainly took an unexpected route!!!
If I told you pre-season that they'd lose to EMU and get blasted off the field by Minnesota, but they'd mercilessly trounce Ohio State [and not a down-year OSU, an 11-1 OSU], and beat two other ranked teams... You'd think I was nuts!

Hard to say about the best season.  For OSU's part, 2002 and 2014 were otherwordly.  There were not a ton of expectations in 2002, and Maurice Clarett was often injured, leading to extremely close wins.  This was also back when Michigan was more of a scary monster, so actually beating them to go to the national championship game was monumental.  And of course very few gave OSU any sort of chance to beat Miami, and the game itself is on the short list for best games of all time (and I was there), so for my money it will always be the best season. I was also a 2L at OSU law at the time, so I'm most definitely biased.

2014 was similar, and also very different.  There were expectations until Braxton Miller was a no go for the season and OSU had to turn to a freshman JT Barrett, and they promptly lose to Virginia Tech.  Then they somewhat quietly dominated most of the rest of their schedule (with a notable exception at Penn State).  Then just as they were getting back on the national radar for a playoff spot, JT broke his leg v. Michigan, which really took the air out of the whole state.  Then they obliterated Wisconsin and got to the playoffs (the very first playoff).  They were underdogs against Alabama, and got an epic win, before finishing off the season in a pretty ugly and uneventful championship game against Oregon.

The reason I write all that is because there's a comparison to be made.  OSU was was a championship contender coming into the season, they were not world beaters, and really didn't play a truly impressive game until the last one against Michigan.  As far as single days go, that was one of the best I've had, but as a season, not so much.  Of course, if they sneak into the playoffs, beat an alltime great like Bama and win a championship, things are different.

For my money, right now, Northwestern is the team. Pretty mild expectations, a mostly brutal start to the season, and they kick ass and win their division pretty handily.  Now they are playing for the Rose Bowl.